Archive for March, 2006

Condos tend to become more popular when housing prices increase, creating a larger differential between the two. Just a couple of months ago it seemed the condo market was soft but it does not look that way now.

One measure of how “hot” the real estate market is takes the percentage of homes for sale that are in escrow. The higher the percentage the hotter the market (more a sellers market)

Anyway, this was surprising to me; the percentage of Marin County condos in escrow is currently 39%. The percentage of single family dwelling in escrow is 32%. So the condo market is hotter than single family residential. This tends to happen when the price differential between condos and homes is large. When the differential is small people tend to get into the entry level house.

When I hold open houses one of the first questions prospective buyers ask is how many days has this home been on the market. I think the goal is to find out how motivated the seller is. Sometimes days on market does make a seller motivated but not all. For example one condo in Marin has been on the market 383 days, and a single family dwelling 383 days.
How many days should your home stay on the market before it sells For Marin County Real Estate the median days on market currently is 33 days for single family dwellings, 37 for condos and 51 for two to four family dwellings.
Homes that are not priced properly, odd, expensive or have features liked by a small percentage of the population tend to stay on the market longer.

Sometimes when we read the Real Estate headlines or hear the news on Marin County Real Estate, we don’t see the forest through the trees. One example of this is homes listed for sale between $800,000 and $1,000,000 in San Rafael, CA. The Marin County Real Estate market for these homes is still hot and a sellers market. For this specific segment, as of March 4, 2006, there are 46 homes listed in MLS and 23 are in escrow. That is 50%, which means it is still a sellers market for that price range in San Rafael, CA.This type of activity means buyers should lower their expectations of getting a “steal” because the market has changed.For San Rafael homes $2,000,000 and over the picture is dramatically different. There are 15 homes in the Marin County Real Estate MLS and only two are in escrow. That is a nice market to be a buyer in for that and other envious reasons.If you want information on a specific Marin County Real Estate market, send an email or give me a call.